High Post Bed

Date1765-1790

MediumMaple and white pine

DimensionsOH: 84'; OW: 56 1/2"; OL: 80"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1933-37

DescriptionHigh post bed; four tapering cylindrical posts topped with graduated ring turned capitols; posts blocked below rails terminating in applied "square" feet; rails "square" in section molded on both outside edges and rabbeted on the inner, upper edge to which pegs are attached; fitted with rectangular headboard with upper corners cut out.

Woods: Primary: maple, secondary: white pine- rails and headboard.
MarkingsRoman numerals on rails and posts.
ProvenanceWhen acquired, this bed was said to have belonged to Sir Francis Wyatt of Jamestown. His dates are 1575(?)-1644, and the bed dates from a later period; this tradition is obviously apocryphal!

However, it could be that the bed descended in the Wyatt family, perhaps from a later Francis Wyatt, or in a family that could trace its roots to the Wyatts or Jamestown. The acquisition from the Virginia dealer Mrs. Brockwell with the Wyatt/Jamestown history, while not acurate, points to a Virginia ownership if not origin of this bed.